Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978 film)

Pati Patni Aur Woh is a 1978 Hindi movie produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Sanjeev Kumar, Vidya Sinha, Ranjeeta Kaur, and in guest appearances Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Tina Munim and Parveen Babi.

The film was remade under the same name in 2019 starring Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar and Ananya Pandey. The film was directed by Mudassar Aziz and produced by Bhushan Kumar.

Plot
The film starts off indicating the parallels of the story with that of Adam and Eve. Here, Adam is Ranjeet, Eve is Sharda while the apple is Nirmala. Ranjeet is newly employed in a company, whose pay scales can be gauged from the fact that he goes to work on a bicycle. However, this bicycle itself brings him face-to-face with Sharda, when he bumps into her by accident. Sharda's bicycle gets badly damaged and Ranjeet drops her off. The same evening, Ranjeet goes to the wedding of his friend Harish whose bride happens to live in Sharda's colony. Sharda is also present at the ceremony. Sharda and Ranjeet's love blossoms from there and soon they get married.

In the course of a few years, Ranjeet is Sales Manager of the company and father of a son. Sharda and Ranjeet are still living in marital bliss. That is, until Nirmala, Ranjeet's new secretary, shows up. Ranjeet is inexplicably attracted to Nirmala. She is an honest girl who is trying to make two ends meet. She is much more beautiful compared to Sharda. But most of all, she knows nothing about Ranjeet's true intentions and his married life. Ranjeet is initially upset with his thoughts about her, but finally gives in.

He carefully plans his further steps. He pretends to be the helpless grieving husband of a cancer stricken wife, who won't live much longer. Nirmala feels sorry for him, thus making it easier for him to get close to her. Nobody, not Sharda, not even his closest friend, suspects a thing. One day, Ranjeet bluffs to Sharda that he will be late coming home as he has a meeting. He takes Nirmala out to dinner. Next day, Sharda finds Nirmala's handkerchief, with lipstick marks on it, in Ranjeet's pocket.

She immediately confronts Ranjeet, who makes up a story about a co-worker whose handkerchief he may have accidentally taken. Sharda reluctantly believes him. Ranjeet decides to take his next steps more carefully. Sharda too starts thinking that her fears were unfounded. Ranjeet makes even more interesting back up plans: He prepares two books of poetry, professing his love. The poems are the same in both, only one book contains Nirmala's name, and the other contains Sharda's.

Ranjeet courts Nirmala without Sharda's knowledge. The turning point comes when Sharda sees him in a hotel with Nirmala. She later asks him about his meeting, about which the clueless Ranjeet lies. Sharda's fears are confirmed. She starts spying on him and Nirmala, taking incriminating pictures. After sufficient evidence is obtained, she secretly meets Nirmala, posing as a journalist. Nirmala, who hasn't seen Ranjeet's "ailing wife" yet, thinks Sharda intends to blackmail her. But Sharda reassures her that she won't.

Nirmala spills all the beans, upon which Sharda reveals her true identity. Meanwhile, Ranjeet gets another promotion and rushes home happily to tell his wife about it. Sharda catches him unawares and lets him know that he is busted. Ranjeet does not know what has hit him. He turns round, only to see Nirmala behind him. Sharda tells him that she is leaving him and the divorce papers will be soon sent to him. Sharda and Nirmala console each other. Ranjeet calls upon his friend and lies that Nirmala has said some malicious lies to Sharda about him.

Ranjeet's friend sides with him and lies about Nirmala's character. Sharda exposes Ranjeet in front of him as well, with help of the evidence she has collected. Sharda tells Ranjeet to choose either her or Nirmala. Ranjeet quietly gives Nirmala some money and lies to her, in a last-ditch attempt at damage control. But honest Nirmala returns the money to Sharda, making things even worse for Ranjeet. Sharda prepares to walk out on Ranjeet, while Nirmala resigns and leaves Ranjeet as well. Sharda comes to visit Ranjeet one last time, when their innocent son asks what is happening.

Sharda decides to give Ranjeet another chance, if only for their son and soon life comes back on track. But soon another secretary joins the office and Ranjeet tries to resort to his antics once more. Just by coincidence, Ranjeet's friend suddenly walks in and Ranjeet backs off, taking this as a warning.

Cast

 * Sanjeev Kumar as Ranjeet Chhadha
 * Vidya Sinha as Sharda Chhadha
 * Ranjeeta Kaur as Nirmala Deshpande
 * Asrani as Abdul Karim Durrani
 * Parveen Babi as Neeta (Guest appearance)
 * Nana Palsikar as Nirmala's Nanaji
 * Om Shivpuri as Sharda's Father
 * Rishi Kapoor as Singer (Cameo of song "Tere Naam Tere Naam")
 * Neetu Singh as Singer (Cameo of song "Tere Naam Tere Naam")

Awards and nominations

 * rowspan="3"|1979
 * Kamleshwar
 * Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay
 * Won
 * Sanjeev Kumar
 * Filmfare Award for Best Actor
 * Nominated
 * Ranjeeta Kaur
 * Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
 * Nominated
 * }
 * Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
 * Nominated
 * }

Remake
A remake of the film was released on 6 December 2019. It is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Juno Chopra and Abhay Chopra with Rajiv Jha. The film stars Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar and Ananya Pandey and is directed by Mudassar Aziz.